Promoting green urban industrialisation in Ethiopia

This policy brief by the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN) outlines strategies for promoting green urban industrialisation in Ethiopia. It advocates for a 'corridor approach' to connect urban clusters and industrial parks, using the Kombolcha–Mek’ele corridor as a primary case study to demonstrate how integrated transport, institutional coordination, and catalytic green investments can drive sustainable economic growth and climate resilience.

• The Government of Ethiopia aims to achieve lower-middle-income status, carbon neutrality, and climate resilience by 2025. To support this, the National Urban Development Spatial Plan (NUDSP) focuses on 10 urban 'clusters' and a program of industrial park development to catalyze growth and create jobs.
• CDKN recommends a 'corridor approach' to urban-industrial development, which connects urban growth clusters via integrated networks of infrastructure (transport, communications, utilities, and housing). This approach is intended to complement Ethiopia's 'cluster' based development and reduce the dominance of the capital city by empowering secondary cities.
• A study of the Kombolcha–Mek’ele (K–M) corridor identified three priority catalytic projects to accelerate green industrialisation: 'green' housing, waste management, and water resources management. The government has indicated that the green housing project will be included in a funding proposal to the Green Climate Fund.
• To promote green urban industrialisation, CDKN identifies several key requirements: identifying catalytic projects that connect local and national priorities; building institutional effectiveness incrementally; ensuring national and local urban plans are connected and reflect national climate strategies; and strengthening the policy and regulatory environment to attract private investment.
• The primary benefit of the corridor approach in the K–M area is the potential for integrated transport planning to maximize the utility of rail investment. This requires coordination across federal, city, and regional levels to create freight incentives, improve access between industrial parks and terminals, and ensure regular service demand.
• Green industrialisation involves policies and infrastructure that ensure sustainable growth and secure supplies of water, food, and energy. Examples in Ethiopia include the Hawassa industrial park, which uses hydropower as its main energy source and has a policy of zero liquid discharge, and Modjo Leather City, which features a green buffer zone and a common waste water treatment plant.

APA

Monkhouse, C., & Scott, C. (2018). Promoting green urban industrialisation in Ethiopia. Climate and Development Knowledge Network. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Green_Industrialisation_Web-final.pdf

Chicago

Monkhouse, Claire, and Charlotte Scott. Promoting green urban industrialisation in Ethiopia. Climate and Development Knowledge Network, 2018. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Green_Industrialisation_Web-final.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Monkhouse |first1=Claire |last2=Scott |first2=Charlotte |title=Promoting green urban industrialisation in Ethiopia |publisher=Climate and Development Knowledge Network |date=January 2018 |url=https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Green_Industrialisation_Web-final.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{monkhouse2018promoting, author = {Monkhouse, Claire and Scott, Charlotte}, title = {{Promoting green urban industrialisation in Ethiopia}}, institution = {Climate and Development Knowledge Network}, year = {2018}, month = jan, url = {https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Green_Industrialisation_Web-final.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }